Companies can now place their storage systems for backups in Stadtnetze Barmstedt’s new data centre and soon rent capacity for data storage too. Communications from the companies to the data centre are carried out entirely via a special, fully secure optical fibre network with KEYMILE’s multi-service access platform MileGate at the core.

For a good two years now the Stadtwerke Barmstedt utility and its subsidiary Stadtnetze Barmstedt GmbH have been investing in setting up a fast optical fibre network to homes and business premises. Customers have fast Internet access of 1,000 Mbps and can enjoy watching television in HD quality via the optical fibre network in the north-German town. The homes and business properties are connected via dedicated optical fibre to KEYMILE’s multi-service-access platform MileGate.

In conjunction with its consistent expansion of the optical fibre network in various neighbourhoods, Stadtnetze Barmstedt has also started operating a new data centre in Barmstedt’s former waterworks. Energy-saving groundwater is used for cooling there. Companies can accommodate and organise operation of their servers and storage systems in the data centre. Online backup services are a new feature. Industrial companies, service providers and medium-sized enterprises can also place their NAS storage systems in the data centre. Through online backups via the cloud, files that have been backed up can be kept independently of the place the data was saved. Therefore, even if damage from fire or flooding occurs, or a server fails completely, the data will never be lost.

Using a MileGate 2510 subrack reserved for corporate customers, Stadtnetze offers a 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps network connection at layer 2 level from a customer’s base to its own data centre. MileGate is ideal for providing powerful voice and data services in exchanges, collocation rooms and outdoor cabinets. Network operators can use MileGate to supply up to 480 private homes and companies with broadband services via optical fibre. At the same time network operators can upgrade their data centres for hosting, housing and providing cloud services which are conveyed and transmitted via the MileGate platform.

In the initial phase Stadtnetze Barmstedt is concentrating on accommodating and managing companies’ NAS storage systems for data backup and recovery in the data centre. The next expansion phase will involve customers not placing their own storage systems in the data centre, but giving them the opportunity to rent storage capacities – and in future server capacities too. Precautions have been taken to ensure maximum security in line with the German Data Protection Act. Customer data is only transmitted in Stadtnetze Barmstedt’s reliable and superbly secured optical fibres.

“When setting up our optical fibre network, we already had an excellent partner in KEYMILE and this applies to our current expansion too. From a number of projects at home and abroad, KEYMILE is fully aware of what municipal operators require and can therefore implement a range of different requirements quickly and flexibly”, comments Olaf Lorenz, Head of Networks and IT at Stadtnetze Barmstedt. “By using MileGate to connect corporate customers to our data centre we can tap into new market segments, user our optical fibre network more efficiently and open up new opportunities to finance future expansion at the same time”.

About Stadtnetze Barmstedt

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Stadtwerke Barmstedt, Stadtnetze Barmstedt is an independent enterprise of the town of Barmstedt to the south of Schleswig-Holstein. Stadtnetze Barmstedt GmbH is responsible for operating, planning, constructing and maintaining the grids, networks and equipment for supplying electricity, gas and water and for building and operating the optical fibre networks. Internet and telephone services, as well as TV and radio are offered under its XityLight brand.

About KEYMILE

KEYMILE is a leading supplier of telecommunications solutions with key facilities in Germany and Switzerland. The flexible and robust multi-service access and transmission systems allow network operators to provide a wide range of voice and data services on copper wire and optical fibre. Simultaneous availability of IP/Ethernet and TDM technology guarantees perfect evolution to packet-based data transmission. KEYMILE systems are used for reliable data transmission in mission-critical areas of telecommunications networks used by railway companies, energy suppliers and public organisations. Public network operators employ the products to provide top bandwidth to subscribers. The KEYMILE systems stand apart for their high level of availability and durability, ease of operation, good eco-footprint and top levels of system integration due to production facilities based in Germany. The company has subsidiaries and partners worldwide and has installed systems in more than 100 countries.